Does Socioeconomic Status Matter? A Study on the Spatial Patterns of COVID-19 in Hong Kong and South Korea

Abstract

While Hong Kong and South Korea have effectively controlled and managed the COVID-19, they have also suffered from multiple waves of infections with distinctive clusters of the pandemics. While people with lower socioeconomic status (SES) had been reported more vulnerable in Hong Kong and Korea, we found no significant correlations between the COVID-19 infection and the SES at the local level. Instead, we found a positive association between the COVID-19 infection and annual tax payment per capita at the district level in Korea. The findings imply the potentially vulnerable areas of COVID-19 may vary by country.